the renaissance man

Sadness, Again

Once again, our school goes through the deaths of its students. I’m not going to go into details as I did the last time, but two more of our students have died in a plane crash.

It’s a devastating thing to happen anytime, but here among the holidays, as many of us enjoy the company of families, there are at least two families very close to me going through hell. I simply cannot imagine the depth of grief suffered by those left behind. I hope I never have to experience the death of my children. It’s simply not something that should happen.

I was speaking to a student today who is a fairly religious person. As many students do, he is getting older and beginning to question all that he thought was certain just months before. We talked about how God could let something like this happen. His girlfriend offered platitudes, “God does everything for a reason.” His response was “There’s no reason a 17–year-old kid needs to die.”

I’m not terribly interested in the religious value of the debate, but I am interested in this idea of how events like this make us question our most central and core beliefs. It sometimes makes them stronger, sometimes it shatters them. It will be a signpost for everyone close to the situation, a moment in time that no one forgets.